Underground-trolley system



(NoModeL) Y v N. B. GINOOHIO 8.1 H. G. BRIDGER.

UNDERGROUND TROLLHY SYSTEM.-

No. 543,130. Patented July 23, 1895 nvvEivrons BY %.Z

WITNESSES A TIOHNE Y.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEQ NOEL B. GINOCHIO, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ANDHENRY O. BRIDGER, OF

WOODRIDGE, NEW JERSEY.

UNDERG ROU NfD-TROLLEY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,130, dated July 23,1895 Application filed December 27, 1894. Serial No. 533,066. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, NOEL B. GINOCHIO, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of New York city, in the county of New York and State ofNew York, and HENRY O. BRIDGER, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain,now residing at Woodridge, in the county of Bergen and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inUnderground-Trolley Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric railways in which the main-circuitwire and its appurtenances is located in a conduit below the track bedor surface, the object being to provide an underground-trolley system inwhich the loss of the power-current by conduction is reduced to aminimum.

In our system we may employ either a metallic or a ground circuit forthe return-current. It is found preferable, however, to employ ametallic circuit for obvious reasons.

We will describe a railway system embodying our invention, and thenpoint out the novel features in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation andlongitudinal section of a system embodying our improvement. Fig. 2 is apartial section and partial elevation showing a modified construction inwhich a metallic return-circuit is employed. Fig. 3 is an end view of aconduit of modified form, and Fig. 4 shows another modification thereof.

Referring first to the example shown in Fig. 1, A designates a tubularconduit made in any desired lengths and secured togetherin any desiredmanner. It may be here stated that the conduit may be made of anysuitable material impervious to water and moisture and preferably havinga high electrical resistance. In this example the conduit hasalongitudinal slot-opening a in its upper side for the passage of thetrolley-hanger.

A designates a contact line or track supported within the conduit in anydesired manner. The contact line or track is made in sections ofsuitable lengths and the sections are insulated one from the other, asshown at a D indicates switches for making and breaking electricalconnections between the central line or track sections, and an insulatedmainline wire G withinthe conduit. Each switch D comprises a plate (1 ofinsulating material supported or secured to the contact line or tracksections, a metal contact-plate cl on the plate d, and a metalrock-lever d adaptedto engage with the plate d. The plate d is made inthe formof a segment of acircle and extends but a portion of the wayaround the plate (1, as plainly shown in Fig l. The rockleverd has anarm 01 which, when the lever is out of contact with the plate d, extendsabove the plane of the contact line or track A, so as to be engaged by atrolley, as will hereinafter be more fully described.

H designates metallic connections between the plates (1 and themain-line wire G, and H designates contact-strips forming electricalconnection between the levers d and the sections A. These strips H aresecured at one end to the contact-line sections and at the other endbear against a rounded or camshaped edge 71. of the levers, and thestrip-s are made of resilient metal, so that they not only serve for thepurpose above mentioned,

but also serve as a retarding device to prevent a too easy movement ofthe levers.

E indicates trip-arms pivotally connected to the sections A and havingtheir upper ends extendedabove the upper surface of the sections A orwithin the line of movement of the trolley, so as to be rocked ortripped by the trolley.

There is a connection F between each triparmand the lower portion of thelever (1 immediately in its rear. 1

B designates a trolley-hanger extended through the slot 01. and having atrolley 11 at its lower end adapted to bear upon the contact line'ortrack A.

We prefer to provide means for allowing a vertical yielding movement forthe trolleyhanger, so that the operation of the trolley will not beinterrupted by possible variations in the plane of the sections A. endin View we make the hanger in two telescopic sections b b the upper oneI) being tubular. Within this tubular portion b is a spring I), whichbears at its lower end against the upper end of the. section b.

With this The hanger is secured to a cart) in any desired manner, and asuitable lead-wire provides connection between the hanger and the motoron the car. The other lead-wire from the motor extends to the groundcircuit.

The operation of the device above described is as follows: Assuming acar to be moving in the direction of the arrow adjacent the hanger B, itwill be seen that the switch D in the'rear of the trolley is closed soas to connect the section A, with which the trolley is engaged, with themain-line wire G. When the trolley reaches the trip-arm E, it will rockthe same to open the first switch, and then the trolley will strike thearm (1 of the next lever (Z and shift it to close the circuit betweenthe next section A and the main-line wire, and of course this operationwill be carried out throughout the entire length of the road.

It will be seen by this construction only one section A beneath a carwill be energized, which, obviously, provides for a great saving in theelectrical energy and obviates danger from sections forward or rearwardof a car.

Referring now to the example shown in Fig. 2, it is to be understoodthat the same switch mechanism as heretofore described is employed. Inthis example we employ contactline sections A and metallicreturn-sections A and the trolley-hanger B supports two trolleys or Awhich engage respectively with the sections A A The trolleys a a aremounted on studs a a extended from but having insulating connection withthe trolleyhanger. From the stud a a Wire 1 leads to one pole of themotor and from the stud a awiro 2 leads to the other pole of the motor.

The parts A A may be mounted on plates of insulating material I), whichare mounted on cross-strips c.

The conduit A (shown in Fig. 3) has its slot-opening e in its side, andthe upper wall 6 of the slot extends outward beyond the vertical planeof the lower wall e The conduit A (shown in Fig. 4:) has the slot e inits lower side. In both these examples it will be seen that water ordirt cannot enter or drip through the slot. Of course with the slotslocated as just described, the trolley-hanger must be bent or curved tosuit the existing condition.

Having described our invention, what we claim is The combination with amain line wire and a contact line, of the switches secured to thecontact line and comprising the plates of insulating material, thesegmental contact plates thereon, the levers having the upwardlyextending arms, the connections between the contact plates and the mainline wire, and the resilient electrical connections between the contactline and levers, the said resilient connections serving also asretarding devices for the levers, substantially as specified.

NOEL GINOCHIO. HENRY C. BRIDGER. Witnesses:

CLARENCE R. FERGUSON, WM. L. BENNEM.

